Off-Ramp listeners, introducing The Big Disaster: The Big Burn from LAist Studios. As the world enters a new age of wildfires, science reporter Jacob Margolis dives deep into personal stories that illuminate the history of how we got here, why we keep screwing things up, and what we can do to survive and maybe even thrive while the world around us burns. 

Listen to this episode and catch all the others here. 

Preppi is giving a free emergency kit with any purchase over $100. Go to preppi.com/thebigburn for more information.

This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/bigburn and get on your way to being your best self.

This piece from the vast Off-Ramp archive is from the very first Off-Ramp - August 5, 2006 - and it's still one of my favorites because it answers a very simple question. What's it like to ride a motorcycle in LA?

The obvious person to answer that question was Susan Carpenter, then the motorcycle columnist for the LA Times (now at Spectrum News 1), who put a little microphone into her helmet and then took off down the streets, roads, and freeways of LA.

Support for this podcast comes from Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live; and bythe Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

Off-Ramp theme music by Fesliyan Studios.

From "I'll be your Huckleberry" to Huck Finn, it's Mark Twain by Val Kilmer ... Valitar, epic show becomes epic fail ... if you think your life is hard, try being gay and undocumented ... put on your traveling face ...

Rabe goes there ... Regardie explains why downtown LA is exploding, but not in a good way ... Kevin goes to the narco-corrido opera ... Robert goes bowling ... and the Getty goes to Koreatown.

Father Boyle versus Mother Church ... Haefele on Haiti ... Mukta Mohan and the Big Picture ... parents find some peace by giving to a police station ...

In Woodland Hills, a fallout shelter stocked with c1960 products ... Shambala, Tippi Hedren's big cat preserve ... Rite of Spring celebration snubs animation ... Dylan Brody on the social network: I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore.

The LA Phil's new season includes a tour of LA ... Kevin Ferguson sweats to the oldies with Richard Simmons ... the first annual Ernest Borgnine Awards ...

Rosemead tiki icon Bahooka to close March 10 ... Oscar PR million$ ... David Dean Bottrell's new show ... Charlie LeDuff gives Detroit a loving autopsy ... Gary Leonard helps Angelenos find their wings ...

Classical music on the Venice Beach boardwalk ... Gordon Henderson finds a Rose Bowl chaperone ... Kevin Ferguson talks with Van Dyke Parks ...

Mark Elson's wet-plate photos of Civil War reenactors ... Backstories: the painting at Langer's and the Venice Beach piano player ... changing the thinking on football head injuries